


The Boys You Talk to in Parking Lots

by snaeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Clubbing, Driving, Fluff and Angst, Late Night Conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaeken/pseuds/snaeken
Summary: Stiles goes for a late night drive. When he happens upon Theo, he asks the other boy to join him.





	The Boys You Talk to in Parking Lots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tabbytabbytabby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/gifts).



> For Tabby, since it's about time I finally reciprocate some of the gifts you give me <3
> 
> For the prompt:  
> "What happened to you?"  
> "I grew up."

Stiles can’t sleep. His mind is racing, refusing to slow down, all the thoughts and worry and irrational – or maybe not so irrational – panic swirling around in his head.

He sighs and rolls over in bed, grabbing his phone from the nightstand and checking it. The screen illuminates the room and he has to squint briefly at the screen before it comes into focus.

No messages.

He wants to text someone, or call someone. It’s unlikely that anyone will actually be awake right now though. And if he leaves them a message, there’s almost definitely going to be an ‘are you okay?’ conversation when they receive the message and Stiles could really do without that.

He can’t even talk to his dad since he’s on the nightshift tonight. Anything could happen to him, there are so many threats out there. He can’t call the station again though, the deputies are getting sick of him phoning.

Looks like he’s going to have to deal with this himself.

Stiles flings off his blanket and gets out of bed, stumbling around in the dark to pull some clothes on. He grabs his keys and goes out the front door, thankful when Roscoe starts up without any issues.

Then he drives.

 

The streets of Beacon Hills are dead. Unsurprisingly there’s nobody out on the streets, no cars on the road. The town is so deceptively peaceful at this time of night.

He pulls into the 24 hour coffee shop and gets something to drink, staying out in the parking lot to slowly sip away at it. The heat feels good trickling down his throat, warming him up against the cool night air.

He looks out his window across the parking lot and sees a lone figure walking past. A streetlight illuminates their profile and out of anyone it could have been, Stiles wasn’t really expecting to see Theo.

He rolls down his window and calls Theo’s name before he’s really thought the whole thing through. Theo turns and looks straight at him, an indecipherable look on his face. Then he starts walking towards Stiles.

Stiles only has a few brief moments for his mind to go into overdrive, making him think about how this could be a mistake, being the only two people out at this time of night and with nobody else knowing where Stiles is.

“Hey,” Theo says when he opens the passenger side door and slides into the seat.

“Can’t sleep?” Stiles asks.

“I don’t sleep much. Nightmares,” Theo shrugs in an almost startling display of honesty.

And Theo looks tired, is the thing. Supernatural healing isn’t enough to cover up the dark circles under his eyes. Stiles forgets that they’re the same age, sometimes. That they grew up together, that they were kind of friends, that this weird tension between them hasn’t always been there.

“Sometimes it’s the Dread Doctors operating on me, only I can’t move and I can’t tell them to stop. Sometimes I’m just minding my own business and they appear, telling me my condition’s terminal.”

As unusual as it is for Theo to be offering information about himself, Stiles can tell he’s still very much holding something back. It does nothing to help the unease spreading through his gut.

“Why are you telling me this?” Stiles asks.

“Because what’s the point in hiding anything from you?” Theo laughs, almost self-deprecatingly. Then, quiet enough that Stiles almost doesn’t catch it, “You can see right through me anyway.”

Stiles considers Theo, how his carefully sculpted mask has all but fallen away. The shadows of his face contain a vulnerability not seen during daylight, only revealed by the flicker and shine of the parking lot streetlight.

“There’s something else. Something worse.” Stiles’s words are soft, but very much a statement rather than a question. “You don’t have to tell me,” he adds when he sees Theo starting to close off.

Stiles drains what’s left of his coffee, is just swallowing the last dregs when Theo speaks again.

“It’s Tara. She… She comes for her heart.”

Stiles’s chest constricts. Theo’s done some awful things but he doesn’t deserve that, not really. He hadn’t realised he was reaching out until Theo bats his arm away.

“Don’t,” Theo spits, venom in his voice. The fight goes out of him again almost instantly. “Just… forget I said anything. It doesn’t matter.”

“What happened to you, Theo?” He barely mumbles the words, more an escaped thought than anything. Of course, of course Theo picks up on it with his damned supernatural hearing.

“I grew up,” he laughs bitterly. “We didn’t all get to just stick around Beacon Hills and play in skate parks without a care in the world. You don’t know how easy you’ve had it.”

Stiles sees red. After the relative quiet that has surrounded them, the sound of Stiles crushing his plastic coffee cup in his hand is like a cacophony. “What the fuck exactly do you think was easy about my mom dying? About constantly being paranoid my dad’s gonna die too? That we live in a town that’s a  _literal beacon_  for all sorts of people and creatures that want to kill us?” Stiles shoves Theo when he looks like he’s about to speak. “I’m not finished,” he seethes. “How about literally being possessed? Being totally and utterly helpless as you feel and see your body kill people, but you can’t do anything about it? Fuck you, Theo. Fuck you.”

Stiles flings open the jeep’s door and gets out. For want of anything better to do, he bins his coffee cup. Luckily he was already finished with it. He paces around for a bit, very much aware that the driver’s side door is open, that the keys are inside, and that Theo is still in the passenger seat. He can feel Theo watching him, though it also feels like he’s being watched by someone – or something – else. Theo doesn’t seem concerned though, and with his survival instincts being just as good as Stiles’s own, it’s probably just Stiles being paranoid again. He always feels watched in Beacon Hills.

He huffs and walks back to his jeep, neither of them saying anything when he slides into the driver’s seat and shuts the door.

“Sorry,” Theo eventually says. “I wasn’t trying to be a dick, it’s just kind of my default setting. When I’m not charming the pants off you, that is.” 

Stiles can hear the playful smirk in Theo’s voice and chuckles despite himself. “Yeah, you are a bit of a dick.” He still feels restless though, feels like he’s being watched. It also doesn’t look like Theo has plans to leave any time soon. “Wanna go for a drive?”

Theo looks surprised for a moment but quickly schools his expression. “Sure. Where to?”

All he knows is that he really doesn’t want to be in Beacon Hills right now. “How about Beacon Heights? There’s a nice club there that should still be open. They’re pretty lenient with checking ID at the door.”

“What’s wrong with Sinema?” Theo asks. “I don’t mind it, if you want to go clubbing.”

“Oh, please,” Stiles scoffs. “Do you really think my every movement isn’t fed back to my dad? Whenever or wherever people see me, someone’s gonna tell him where I was, what I was doing. In Beacon Heights, though? Not an issue.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Theo shrugs. “All right then, Beacon Heights it is.”

Stiles starts up the jeep and pulls out of the parking lot. It’s not long before they pass by the ‘You are now leaving Beacon Hills’ sign and drive off into the night.

 

The roads are still quiet out here, so Stiles doesn’t feel quite so bad when he keeps glancing over to look at Theo. He’s clearly still awake but he’s resting his head against the window, looking out into the dark. It’s the most peaceful Stiles remembers him looking since they were kids.

Theo looks over at exactly the wrong moment and catches Stiles watching him. Stiles averts his eyes, annoyance creeping in at the way his heartbeat spikes, at how he knows Theo can hear it.

“Eyes on the road, Stiles.” He can hear the smile in Theo’s voice. “I know I’m pretty but road safety comes first.”

“Shut up,” Stiles laughs, shoving him. “You’re so full of shit.”

Theo laughs bright and genuine but doesn’t deny it. Then Stiles hears his seatbelt stretching and suddenly Theo’s lips are pressing against the side of his own. He pulls away again before Stiles gets the chance to process it, to enjoy it.

“Did you just kiss me? Stiles asks.

“Um. Yeah.”

Silence briefly descends upon them, only Roscoe’s somewhat unhappy clunking breaking it up.

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to.”

“Oh.”

Theo just kissed him. _Theo_  just _kissed_  him. Does he want something? Does he have some sort of grand master scheme that Stiles isn’t even aware of yet? Or, maybe even more impossibly, did he actually, genuinely just want to kiss Stiles? When he could have anyone he wanted? Obviously he thinks Theo’s hot. Is the weird tension between them actually _sexual_  tension and he just hasn’t realised it until now?

His mind is absolutely, positively racing, only it feels like there’s no finish line and the track is on fire.  

“Breathe,” Theo says, touching his arm and searing the skin there. “Your heartbeat’s going insane.” From the sound of Theo’s voice, it would appear he needs to take his own advice.

Thankfully the lights of Beacon Heights are fast approaching. It means he can focus more on driving instead of thinking about whatever the hell just happened.

 

Stiles parks a few streets away from the club, hoping the fresh night air will help clear his head. Stiles gets out of the jeep and Theo follows suit. However instead of giving him personal space like a normal person, Theo walks close enough to him that their shoulders brush with every step.

Leaving Beacon Hills hasn’t done anything to stop the feeling of being watched. Mostly because he can sense Theo staring right at him while they’re walking.

“What?” Stiles says, voice a lot more clipped than intended. “Sorry. What is it?”

“How do you do it?” Theo asks.

Stiles stops in the middle of the street. Theo stops too, a pace ahead. The streetlight illuminates Theo’s face again. He looks curious, conflicted. Stiles isn’t the only one who lets his guard down with the cover of night, after all.

“How do you all act so… _normal?_  After everything that’s happened how do you all just laugh and joke and go about your lives?”

Theo Raeken is a puzzle with a handful of pieces misplaced. He’s an enigma with the code on the verge of being cracked.

“Just because bad shit’s happened doesn’t mean you can spend all your time waiting for it to get worse, y’know? Good stuff happens all the time when you look in the right places. You can find enjoyment in stuff if you really try, even if it’s just in the little things.”

“Like late night drives?” Theo teases.

“Exactly, like late night drives.”

Stiles shivers and rubs his hands together; it’s not exactly warm outside this late. Theo reaches out and takes Stiles’s hand in his own. He raises an eyebrow questioningly and Stiles twines their fingers together. He starts warming up immediately.

“How about holding hands with a cute boy?” Theo smiles. For once the gesture is devoid of all deceit, all falseness.

“Yeah, I’d say this counts too.” He absolutely will not admit how much he’s enjoying this. Not that he actually needs to - Theo seems pretty smug about the whole thing. Theo might think that he can’t hide anything from Stiles, but it seems to work both ways.

They walk along the quiet city streets hand in hand, ignoring the smattering of people they pass by. They don’t know Stiles and Theo, and Stiles and Theo don’t know them. Just the way Stiles wanted it.

They reach the club and as Stiles expected, the security guy doesn’t even ask them for ID, just takes their entry fees and lets them inside. The music is loud, the bass thumping through the soles of Stiles’s feet, and despite the late hour the club is still pretty busy. Theo leads them straight to the bar and they get served almost instantly. Theo claims it’s due to his dashing good looks. Stiles wants to dispute that and tell him to stop being so full of himself. He also doesn’t want Theo to stop holding his hand.

“No alcohol?” Stiles notes when he takes a sip.

“Oh, my bad,” Theo says, voice raised to be heard over the music. “Did you want some? I can’t get drunk without wolfsbane and I don’t really like the taste anyway, so I don’t usually bother.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Stiles shrugs. “C’mon, let’s dance.”

The dancefloor itself isn’t overly busy, most of the people who are in groups choosing to stick around the booths. It’s a nice change from instantly feeling cramped and becoming sweaty, especially as that’s not the aim of tonight anyway. No, the aim is to get Theo to smile that wonderful smile again.

Their drinks are still too full to do much more than just sway to the music, but Stiles twirls Theo under his arm. And there it is - Theo laughs loudly and a grin splits across his face, eyes crinkled shut with joy.

Theo takes Stiles’s drink and puts both of them down on a nearby table before returning to Stiles. They can’t drink them anymore but he doesn’t mind, not really. Not when Theo’s putting his hands on Stiles’s hips and pulling their bodies closer together. He’s looking at Stiles expectantly but rather than do the same, he hooks his hands in the back pockets of Theo’s jeans.

The song changes, something equally uptempo. They sway on the spot and Stiles rests his forehead against Theo’s. It’s kind of nice being taller than him. They both seem to get the same idea, Theo tilting his head up as Stiles is tilting his down, and they’re kissing again. Only this time Theo doesn’t pull away before Stiles gets to enjoy it. Despite how often they’ve clashed before, how abrasive some of their dealings with each other have been, this is the complete opposite of that. Their lips are soft yet certain against each other’s.

Eventually Theo pulls away, a grin on his face and his cheeks dusted red. “How’s this for finding enjoyment in things?”

“I’d say it’s pretty good, yeah,” Stiles laughs and reconnects their lips. There’s no urgency, no rush. The lights flash and the music thumps. They have all the time in the world.


End file.
